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CHICAGO (AP) — As Brandon Barnes rounded the bases to celebrate his first big league homer, the Wrigley Field faithful threw the souvenir back onto the field.

Only this time, a second ball came flying back with it.

"We got the right one," Barnes confirmed with a grin.

Barnes' shot was all the Houston Astros managed Monday night as Jeff Samardzija matched a career high with 11 strikeouts in seven innings and the Chicago Cubs won 7-1.

The Astros have lost 25 of their last 27 road games.

"After (Samardzija) got that lead, it seemed like he really started throwing the ball well," Astros manager Brad Mills said. "There was a lot of movement. He was throwing (his slider and cutter) for what looked like strikes, and they were breaking out of the zone."

Samardzija (8-10) allowed one run and four hits. He also fanned 11 at Atlanta on July 2.

"It's my first year starting so I really want to show the staff that I can pitch late in the year and still pitch late in the games late in the year," Samardzija said. "It's a big proving year for me."

Darwin Barney and Alfonso Soriano hit two-run homers and Anthony Rizzo had four hits for the Cubs, who won for just the second time in 13 games..

The crowd of 31,452 was the smallest of the season at Wrigley Field.

Barnes had a pinch-hit shot in the sixth for the Astros, who have the worst record in the majors. Called up from the minors on Aug. 7, Barnes homered in his fourth big league game.

"Amazing. Not many words I can say. It was really cool," Barnes said. "I wasn't 100 percent sure it was going out. Once I saw it was out, I was pretty excited."

Armando Galarraga (0-3) was tagged for five runs and seven hits.

"Two home runs cost me the game," Galarraga said. "Believe it or not, it was a better start than the last couple. I threw more strikes, threw everything I wanted to. I just missed those two."

Samardzija came into the game with the second-lowest run support in the majors at 3.19. Chicago had scored two or fewer runs for him in 11 of his last 12 outings.

Starlin Castro led off the Cubs second with a single and two outs later, Barney hit his sixth homer.

In the third, Rizzo singled home Josh Vitters to give Samardzija a three-run cushion.

After Rizzo singled in the fifth, Soriano hit his 21st home run.

Welington Castillo had an RBI infield single in the seventh and Vitters drove in Barney with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

NOTES: Lucas Harrell, Tuesday's scheduled starter for Houston, will try for his 10th win of the season. He ranks first among NL rookies in innings pitched. ... Cubs starter Chris Volstad will try to win his first game since July 10, 2011, on Tuesday. He has not won in 22 starts. ... Astros C Jason Castro was back in the lineup after missing nearly a month with a right knee contusion. He was 1 for 4 and struck out three times.

CHICAGO (AP) — It's been a struggle all season for Bud Norris to get in the win column.

Now he's struggling to just stay on the field.

Norris was battered for three home runs before getting hit with a line drive and exiting early on Wednesday, and the Houston Astros lost to the Chicago Cubs 7-2.

David DeJesus hit two home runs and Justin Germano breezed through six innings to help Chicago win the three-game series.

Norris (5-10) allowed six runs on eight hits over 3 1-3 innings and hasn't won since May 21.

Following DeJesus' second homer, Josh Vitters hit a liner up the middle that deflected off Norris' foot toward the third base bag. After two warm-up pitches, Norris bent over, shook his head toward the team trainer and exited the game. He was diagnosed with a left foot contusion.

"It really squared up my foot pretty good," Norris said. "I knew with my landing foot it wasn't going to be pretty. I'm glad I came out because I didn't want to hurt it any worse than it was."

Astros manager Brad Mills said Norris will be re-evaluated Friday.

Norris' winless streak extended to 13 starts.

"I just felt like I was inconsistent and that all the mistakes I made got punished," he said. "It's just frustrating because you're trying to make good pitches."

The Astros, owners of the worst record in baseball, have dropped 26 of their last 29 road games and are 12-48 away from home this season.

A Houston offense that scored 10 runs the day before was stymied by Germano (2-2), who was removed after giving up a single and a walk in the sixth. James Russell entered in relief and loaded the bases, but escaped the jam giving up just one run.

Germano was charged with two runs on five hits over 6 1-3 innings. He walked one and struck out six, including the side in the fourth.

"He was throwing every pitch that he wanted for strikes," Jose Altuve said. "He was dominating the whole game long."

Altuve had three singles for Houston, but Marwin Gonzalez followed by hitting into a double play all three times.

Scott Moore homered leading off the second for Houston for his second homer in as many days. He had three extra-base hits Tuesday.

Starlin Castro also homered among his three hits for Chicago, which won for just the third time in 15 games. The Cubs avoided falling to a season-worst 26 games under .500.

DeJesus' third-inning homer was his first in 54 career games at Wrigley Field. And he didn't waste any time notching his second career Wrigley homer, blasting the first pitch of his next at-bat out to center field.

"After the first at-bat, I felt confident that I saw all of (Norris') pitches," DeJesus said. "I just wanted to be aggressive on him, I knew he'd pump a lot of first-pitch heaters right down the middle."

He tied a career best with four hits and drove in three runs, reaching base five times. Astros reliever Chuckie Fick was booed in the sixth for intentionally walking DeJesus with runners on second and third.

Castro hit a two-run shot in the third, his 12th of the season.

Chicago's Brett Jackson tied the game at 1 with a two-out triple in the second inning. The low liner skipped past center fielder Brandon Barnes and Castro trotted home from third.

It was Jackson's first career RBI. He also doubled in the sixth. The 24-year-old has struggled since being called up from Triple-A Iowa on Aug. 5. He was just 4 for 28 with 16 strikeouts before the triple.

Notes: The Cubs fired vice president of player personnel Oneri Fleita. Fleita had been with the organization since 1995. . Astros RHP Francisco Cordero flew to Miami to complete his U.S. Citizenship. Cordero has been on the 15-day disabled list since Aug. 3 with a sprained toe ligament. He was acquired from Toronto on July 20. . After an off-day Thursday, Travis Wood (4-8, 4.52 ERA) pitches the series opener for the Cubs in Cincinnati against the Reds' Bronson Arroyo (8-7, 3.95). . Dallas Keuchel (1-4, 5.29) will start for Houston at home on Friday against Arizona's Wade Miley (12-8, 3.02).

HOUSTON (AP) — The city of Houston wants to become a part of college football's playoff system.

Houston submitted a bid on Tuesday to host the new Big 12-Southeastern Conference bowl and join the rotation for semifinal games in the sport's new postseason format, which begins in the 2014 season.

The champions of the Big 12 and Southeastern Conference or replacement teams from those leagues would meet in the bowl game, at least temporarily dubbed the Champions Bowl. The game would be played at Reliant Stadium, home of the NFL's Houston Texans.

Cotton Bowl organizers have also expressed interest in being part of the playoff rotation and hosting the title game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, as have officials from the Chick-fil-a Bowl in Atlanta.

Reliant Stadium has hosted a bowl game — currently the Meineke Car Care Bowl — since 2006. The venue, which also has a retractable roof, was the site of the 2004 Super Bowl and the 2011 Final Four. It is slated to host the Final Four again in 2016.

"We're really honored and very proud of the bid that we've put forth," said Heather Houston, the executive director of the Meineke Car Care Bowl. "We feel like it'll stack up against any other market. We've got the strongest local economy, a beautiful facility here at Reliant Stadium, and also an avid college sports base; and of course the proven track record of hosting successful events such as the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four and, of course, the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas."

The bid is for 12 years, Houston said, and the goal is for the city to land one of the semifinal games in four of those years. The deadline for cities to submit bids is Wednesday, she said.

The Meineke Car Care Bowl has drawn high attendance the past three years. Last season, a crowd of 68,395 watched Texas A&M defeat Northwestern.

"I feel like our market weighs heavily in their minds," Houston said. "Both of those conferences have said over and over again that they want to be in Houston, and they've seen that we have a proven track record of hosting a really successful bowl game now and big-time sporting events here. We feel like, again, our bid will stack up against New Orleans' and Arlington's and the rest of the cities that will be bidding on this as well."

Houston said league officials set no timeline on deciding which cities would host the playoff games.

NEW YORK (AP) — Astros interim manager Tony DeFrancesco wasn't sure at first if Marwin Gonzalez was safe or out at home plate in the ninth inning. In that tangle, it was hard to tell.

So he burst out of the dugout to protect his player, and at least take a shot at persuading home plate umpire Dave Rackley to rule the go-ahead run had scored.

No such luck. Gonzalez was ejected before he could get to the plate, and the call stood.

Ike Davis then hit his second homer of the day with one out in the bottom of the ninth, lifting the New York Mets to their first series win at home since early July with a 2-1 victory over Houston on Sunday.

"It was a bang-bang play. The umpire got it right, but I thought it could have went either way," said DeFrancesco, a former catcher. "It was a heck of a play by the catcher squashing him off the plate."

Rookies Jeremy Hefner and Lucas Harrell engaged in a crisp duel for seven innings. Hefner took a shutout into the ninth before giving up a tying double to Gonzalez.

Gonzalez then tried to score on Ben Francisco's single off Bobby Parnell (3-3) and Lucas Duda, recalled from Triple-A Buffalo on Sunday, made a strong throw home.

Catcher Kelly Shoppach took Duda's slightly high throw and stuck his left leg out to block the plate. Gonzalez tried to slide around him and reach back for the plate, but Shoppach used his body to prevent Gonzalez from slipping in a hand. Gonzalez jumped up and slammed his helmet down after being called out. He was tossed by Rackley.

"It was a great throw by Duda, giving us a chance to keep it tied," Shoppach said of Duda, who is often criticized as being a sub-par outfielder.

Davis' drive off Wilton Lopez (5-2) just cleared the top of the right-field wall — and the glove of a leaping Francisco — for the second game-ending drive of his career — a homer under the new Citi Field dimensions. He took a leaping 360-degree spin into his awaiting teammates at the plate.

"I thought I hit it a little better than I did. Outfielder kind of deked me a little bit," Davis said. "Thought I'd look like a fool because I didn't run out of the box. ... First one I got pretty good."

Davis connected off Harrell, his former teammate on the U.S. national team, leading off the fourth, launching a shot about halfway up the second deck in right to help the Mets snap a skid of six straight series losses at Citi Field. Since taking two of three from Philadelphia July 3-5, New York has gone 5-16 at home.

Batting .199 on July 4, Davis has lifted his average to .223 and he has 24 homers this season.

"It was a pitch down and in," Harrell said. "I tried to get it in but not down."

The Mets took two of three in the final series at Citi Field with Houston being a National League team. The Astros join the AL West next season.

The Astros have won just eight of their last 53 games.

At Buffalo, Duda worked on playing in left field after starting 80 games in the right for New York. Often looking lost in the field before he was sent down on July 24 because he was slumping at the plate, Duda couldn't come up with a difficult catch in the ninth that allowed Houston to tie it 1-all, spoiling Hefner's fine outing.

"I thought he looked great out there. He looks comfortable," manager Terry Collins said. "As far as that ball goes, he ran a long way for that ball. And any time you dive toward that wall, there's issues. I thought he did fine. Of course, he made a great throw, too."

Pinch-hitter Jose Altuve led off the ninth with a single and Collins chose to leave Hefner in. Gonzalez then hit a low liner down the left-field line. Duda made the long run and the ball hit of his glove as he tried to make the catch and avoid hitting the wall.

Altuve scored and Gonzalez landed on second base chasing Hefner.

Harrell came in the leader in innings pitched for rookies and had won 25 percent of the Astros' 40 games. He was second to Wade Miley in wins for rookies in the NL and led the league with 151 1-3 innings pitched.

He showed how good he was Sunday, giving up two hits and a run with four of his seven strikeouts coming with the batter caught looking.

"I felt like I was working quick and in the zone all day," Harrell said.

NOTES: RHP Armando Galarraga has chosen to become a free agent rather than accepting an assignment to the minors after being designated for assignment by the Astros last week. ... Astros OF Justin Maxwell missed his fifth consecutive start with a bruised right index finger. He will see a doctor Monday and could be headed to the disabled list.